On Jan. 23, America Ferrera had a major career triumph when she scored her first Oscar nomination ever, for her role in Barbie.
And she didn't waste time opening up about her nomination, as well as how she feels about the film's star Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig being snubbed in their respective categories.
In the record-breaking film, America played Gloria, one of the few human and non-doll characters. She's nominated for Best Supporting Actor alongside Emily Blunt for Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple, Jodie Foster for Nyad, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers.
America told Variety the same day the nominations were announced that she was in bed when she heard the news and it took her a moment to make sure she'd heard them correctly.
“I still haven’t really been able to get in my feelings because I’m still on like the top layer of ‘I can’t even believe that this is real,'” America told Variety.
Soon after, though, her husband, Ryan Piers Williams (who also plays her husband in the movie), gave her a call while dropping their children off at school. “He was screaming and emotional. And I just heard my kids in the back, like so confused. ‘What are you screaming about?'” she said.
Noting she's been texting with her Barbie crew, America said she's "so grateful" for their "love and support" before saying how she feels about Margot not being nominated for Best Lead Actress or Greta for Best Director.
“I was incredibly disappointed that they weren’t nominated,” Ferrera told the publication.
"Greta has done just about everything that a director could do to deserve it," she later told Variety. "Creating this world, and taking something that didn’t have inherent value to most people and making it a global phenomenon. It feels disappointing to not see her on that list.”
As for Margot, America noted she her costar made a "truly unbelievable" achievement in her roll as the iconic plastic doll. "One of the things about Margot as an actress is how easy she makes everything look. And perhaps people got fooled into thinking that the work seems easy, but Margot is a magician as an actress in front of the screen, and it was one of the honors of my career to get to witness her pull off the amazing performance she did. She brings so much heart and humor and depth and joy and fun to the character. In my book, she’s a master," America told Variety.
Both Margot and Greta did receive other nominations for the film. Margot is among the producers nominated for Best Picture, while Greta alongside her co-writer and husband Noah Baumbach is up for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film is also competing for a series of other awards, including Best Supporting Actor where Ryan Gosling is nominated for playing Ken.
America also took to Instagram on Tuesday to share her nomination in an IG Story and thanked the Academy while hashtagging, "#stillprocessing."
One thing in particular America is pleased about regarding Barbie's nominations is that it's up for Best Picture. The film is one of three directed by woman to be recognized in the top category. The other films are Celine Song's Past Lives and Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall.
"Women filmmakers telling all different kinds of stories that resonate in different ways in the culture is the goal. I would love to see even even more female-directed movies on the list and to see more female directors acknowledged for making the best cinema of the year," she told Variety.
